Mike Perry, President and CEO of Crayola

Mike Perry, President and CEO of Crayola

The Lehigh Valley has been home to Crayola for more than 110 years, providing an ideal location for us to do business and offering a great quality of life for our employees who work, live and play here. Crayola's roots are strong in the Valley, and we have flourished, thanks to this wonderful region.

In 1900, Crayola settled in the Lehigh Valley and operated an old mill on the Bushkill Creek in Palmer Township, grinding slate found in the area to make one of our first products — slate pencils for school kids. During the next few years, Crayola began making chalk and, eventually, Crayola crayons in 1903. Today, we make hundreds of Crayola products under the brand name recognized in households around the world. We credit the Lehigh Valley and thank those who have provided the tools and resources to help us to be successful.

When you come to the Lehigh Valley, you will find a solid business climate with companies of all sizes in many different industries — from global leaders to startup businesses. There are more than 15,000 businesses in the region and many business clusters focusing on services and technology.

You'll find a solid transportation and communication infrastructure that gets better every day, 11 colleges and universities, an educated workforce, business-minded government, the arts, sports, recreation, and a great ethnic mix of history, culture and food that is very appealing.

The Lehigh Valley has much of what the big cities offer, but on a smaller, manageable scale. And when you need to venture to or access a big city for business or pleasure, both New York and Philadelphia are about 90 miles away. Major highways, an intermodal rail yard and available warehousing make it easy to set up operations and reach out to your customers.

Just recently we consolidated three warehouses in Harrisburg and our Lehigh Valley locations into a new 800,000-square-foot distribution center near the intermodal rail yard in Bethlehem off Interstate 78. We appreciate the support we have received from the city and real estate developers to help us quickly build and occupy this facility. Our new warehouse will benefit us greatly because of its proximity to our local manufacturing facilities.

The Crayola Experience, our hands-on discovery center in downtown Easton, where nearly 300,000 guests visit each year, is another venture for which we have received assistance over the years. The city of Easton, the Lehigh Valley and state of Pennsylvania have been very cooperative in helping us to achieve our vision to make The Crayola Experience a fun, colorful and magical experience for kids and adults, many of whom live in the Lehigh Valley. We are undergoing a major interior and exterior face-lift and will reopen the attraction on Memorial Day weekend.

In 2008, we asked "what if we could create Crayola products with an alternative, clean energy source?" A solar farm became the solution, so we reached out to the business community and partnered with two of the Lehigh Valley's major energy suppliers — PPL and UGI. Together, we built a 30-acre solar farm adjacent to our property. From beginning to completion of the project in 2011, we received wonderful cooperation from local business partners, government, suppliers and residents to make this dream a reality. We're now harnessing the sun's power to create 1 billion Crayola crayons and 700 million markers every year.

And finally, the most important and valued resource in the Lehigh Valley is its people — people who care and are willing to give of their time and talent to help each other. Like Crayola, the workforces of many Lehigh Valley companies reach out in their communities, providing thousands of volunteer hours every year to local nonprofit boards and civic organizations, as well as at community events and activities.

The heart of the Lehigh Valley is big and beating strong. Crayola is appreciative to be a part of this big-city, small-town environment, and to receive the support we have for the past 11 decades.